Nine Days During
by Drexbann15
Summary: After the terrible conflict that occurred at the Rest Stop, Clementine, Kenny, and Alvin Junior find new resolve and make their way North to find Wellington. It took them 9 days to encounter The Wall and meet Edith, but what exactly happened during that time? Here's what I think happened, and this is a present story for TWDGamerKenny'sBro. Enjoy!
1. The Third Day

_**NINE DAYS **_**_DURING_**

_**After the terrible conflict that occurred at the Rest Stop, Clementine, Kenny, and Alvin Junior find new resolve and make their way North to find Wellington. It took them 9 days to encounter The Wall and meet Edith, but what exactly happened during that time?**_

**A/N- Here's a look on what may have happened. And a Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you all! :) This story is a present for TWDGamerKenny'sBro, my buddy who is co-writing our version of Season 3 which we will update very soon, thank you for your patience and support. :)**

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><p><span><em>The Third Day...<em>

The coos and whimpers from baby AJ in her arms were getting more and more noticeable. He usually didn't fuss this much, maybe he was just cranky he didn't fall asleep earlier. Perhaps he needed a change?

"He alright?" The bearded man called back to her, snapping her attention to Kenny instead. "You want me to hold him?"

"I got him. It's okay." The little girl responded. Truth be told, Clementine denied Kenny to hold the baby every time since he killed Jane. She was still slightly mad at him for not listening to her, and the fact that she just let him kill a woman in front of her, even though she kind of had it coming to tricking Kenny, this was a sorts a little punishment.

"We can stop and rest in an hour. Find someplace warm, make a fire... something." Kenny sighed as he scratched his graying beard. "You gotta be tired for carrying him all day."

"I'm fine, Kenny." She reassured him with a nod while gently rocking the innocent infant. "Don't worry."

"I always gotta worry, hon." He muttered quietly as he stopped walking, waiting for Clementine to catch up to him. They were in the middle of a snow-covered coniferous forest. Trees all around with pine needles and dead leaves littered the ground, but at least they didn't have to trudge through the deep snow... not yet anyways. Kenny looked around. "We can stop here if you want. Least we won't be fightin' the wind here..."

[Stop Here]

**[Keep Going]**

"I can keep going." She really was tired honestly, but she also wanted to make some more distance today. She knew Kenny wanted that too, however she was sure he was concerned for herself and the baby too.

"At least lemme take Alvie then. Your arms must be sore as hell, you don't wanna get them all stuck that way, do ya?" He lightly joked at her as he offered his own arms for her to give him the child. "Clem, I'm good." He attempted to comfort her.

**(0) Hand over AJ.**

She supposed three days was enough...

Clementine reluctantly handed Alvin Junior to an almost overjoyed Kenny who was smiling like she hadn't seen in days. "Hey there little buddy." He shushed him quietly. "Shh shh... I know, I know. You miss ole Kenny?" He looked grateful to the little girl for honoring his request finally, but then he smirked at her. "Can you feel them?"

It was only then that Clem could feel the cramps alleviate, the blood fully rush to all parts of her upper limbs, and so on in that fashion as she let her arms freely fall to her sides. It felt good. "Just barely." She smirked back.

"Let's keep going then." And they trudged on and on until the three of them made it out of the forest and out into the open.

They found themselves on the side of the road, but what they found in the middle of it made their stomachs turn. A single walker only just noticing their living scent and presence was clawing at them but to no avail. It's lower half was what appeared to be steamrolled to the pavement, leaving the torso up intact and its intestines and legs pancaked. Whether it was run over as it mindlessly crossed the road or rather this was the cause of death remained unclear. Nevertheless, it was still gruesome.

"Poor bastard." Kenny grumbled while adjusting AJ in his arms. "Hell of a way to go. Run over like an animal."

It was rare to have sympathy for walkers that were strangers, but when Clem's eyes found the dog-tags hanging off it's dead neck, she imagined this used to be a good guy too. "Do you think that's what killed him?" Clementine inquired from her close companion, seeking his input.

"Well, if it did... I hope he didn't suffer." He then looked around at the scene, looking for any clues or lack thereof. "On second thought he was probably already dead when he got hit."

"How can you tell?" Clem asked as they cautiously approached the lurker.

"Ain't no signs of them hittin' the brakes. See?" He pointed all along the road. "No brake marks. So these guys musta had something heavy to do this kinda damage, they weren't stopping for this guy."

"So, could there be people in the area?" The little girl inquired further.

"They could be long gone, but we should stay on our toes and keep watch tonight, just to be sure." Kenny then gave a look at Clementine and motioned towards the half-squashed walker. "Go on, one less to worry about."

Clementine nodded in response and pulled out her hatchet as she walked up to the still immobile clawing lurker. Judging from his appearance, he didn't die much too long ago, but there was no doubt he was in uniform, he was young though, and it was a waste to have someone like this die in the middle of all this. "I'm sorry this happened to you."

The little girl raised her hatchet and didn't waste anymore time diving it down directly into the top of its skull, silencing its groans and rendering it motionless. Clementine slightly struggled pulling it back out, but the job was done.

Kenny spoke up. "I think I know what happened to that guy, Clem." His eyebrow furrowed at the thought as he and Clem crossed the road and into the second half of the forest on the other side.

"Yeah? What is it?" Clementine tried to think of a guess, but Kenny already beat her to it.

"A tank would explain it." He looked back at the scene one last time before they entered the trees. "Makes sense, dead men don't get outta the way for a tank."

They were engulfed in the forest now, and the road behind them could no longer be seen now. Someone has a tank out here? Now that could be really good or really bad. Clementine decided to put in her two cents. "Do you think it could be like those guys in the army?" Military were good people, right?

Kenny sighed and shook his head at that. "You think his soldier buddies would've just run him over like that? Naw..."

"No." Clem immediately agreed with him. If that was true then other people have this supposed tank and ran over that dead man in uniform. The thought of that made her feel uneasy. The same can be said for Kenny. "We should keep off the roads then, but try to keep going North too."

**(?) Kenny took note of that.**

The wounded warrior smirked at that. "Atta girl, Clem."

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><p>Clementine sniffed and wiped her nose for nearly every minute as they spent the last leg of their trek for that day hidden in the cold forest. They were burning daylight fast and they needed shelter and a fire before things got too cold, especially for Alvie. "We need to stop here tonight, Kenny."<p>

"I know, I know." He assured her while looking around for a soft space of dirt to sit down on.

"Wait." Clem halted him and she vaguely spotted a glint or reflection off the last orange wisps of sunset light. "What's that?" She pointed to their left.

Kenny followed her finger and his eyes widened as he deduced what it was. "Holy shit... C'mon Clem." He told her as they made their way to the thing Clem found. It wasn't until now that Clementine figured out what she spotted among the brush here.

It was a small camouflaged trailer, probably used for hunting. It's design was small but it hid among background enough to fool almost even them. Thankfully, this would be some comfortable shelter as opposed to sleeping outside. Had to check it if it wasn't already occupied though.

"Here take the baby." Kenny instructed her as she took AJ into her arms once again. "I'm gonna clear this thing out for us. Watch our backs."

The little girl simply nodded as she watched Kenny cautiously opened the door to find that it was not locked. He swung it open with his gun raised and he headed inside it. After a moment or two, Kenny came back out with a pleased look on his face. "It's safe, come on in."

"Good." Was all she could say as she sniffed again. She stepped up with AJ in her arms and entered the trailer, closing the door behind her and locking it so that they could remain, relatively safe. She looked around inside and found that the entire interior was painted black. There was at least one window and a single bed in the single room they were in, and a lawn chair faced out towards the window. She also noticed a couple of crushed old beer cans on the ground too...

"You see? These people used this thing as a deer blind so the animals couldn't see them here. They would wait for them to come out and they'd shoot from there." He pointed at the window as he explained to her. "This is a nice one, still in decent shape."

So hunters used to be here. Got it. "I'm glad we found it." But then a worrying thought entered her mind. "You think people will come back here?"

"We'll leave first thing in the morning." Kenny assured her with a smile. "If we keep the lights off we'll practically be invisible here at night. But if it comes to that, I protect you both, I promise."

She believed him. "Okay." Clem sniffed again and this time Kenny noticed as she went over to place Alvie down on the bed.

"What's the matter Clementine?" The bearded man asked with a tone of concern. "You got the sniffles?"

"Yeah." She did it again, but more pronounced to confirm it. "I've been doing it all day..." Clem crossed her arms and pouted. "It's really annoying."

"Aw, I'm sorry darlin'. C'mere." He motioned her to step toward him. She did, and Kenny lifted the back of his hand to feel for a fever. "Ain't too warm yet. Probably just a cold. Lemme see what we got."

Kenny slung the sack of supplies he lug around on his back. It wasn't very heavy so they knew they would need to find more stuff tomorrow. ...No medicine of the sorts. "Damn." He pulled out a can of beans instead. "Sorry."

"It's okay." Clem plopped down on the bed beside AJ as did Kenny on the other side. "I can deal with it."

Kenny sighed as he happily reminisced. "I remember, long time ago, back when Sarita first found me..." He paused sadly at first. "She said her number one goal was to get me to laugh... somehow. Said that'd get me outta my slump, make me feel better."

Clementine had a feeling that his unfortunate girlfriend was successful at that at some point. But better yet, she was surprised he was talking about her at this point. "How'd she get you to laugh?"

"You already think she won at that?" He grinned at her.

"I know she did. Definitely won you over." She grinned back while glancing down at a slumbering infant in front of them.

He chuckled. "It was the dumbest fuckin' joke I ever heard, she said she heard it from an old man before all this happened. You wanna hear it?"

Laughter was one of the best medicines, so why not. "Sure."

"Okay gimme a sec, it's a long one. Gotta get it right." Kenny paused again trying his best to collect the whole story of the joke. "Alright here it is. There's this Farmer that walks into a bar-! You know what a bar is right?"

"Um..." Clem scratched the back of her head. "Kind of. It's a place where adults go to drink and hangout, right?"

**(?) Kenny will remember that.**

"Yeah but, how do you know that?" He pried.

"I go out drinking every night. Don't you remember Kenny?" Clementine joked with a cheeky grin on her face. She wanted to mess with him.

And he returned it. "Really? Well then you should start taking me with you then."

"No," She shook her head at him. "You have to watch AJ, I'll have enough fun for the both of us."

Kenny wanted to create another clever comeback for little ms. smart-ass. But he was getting sidetracked. It was then that he noticed a small battery-operated heater. He flicked it on and by some miracle it worked, and he left it on the floor so that the heat would rise. "You're still too young to be running around bars... can't imagine."

"So~ you getting back to the Farmer?"

"Yeah yeah... where was I?" Trying to recollect his comedic composure.

She led him back in. "Farmer walks into a bar..." She brought her legs up into her chest so that she could hug her knees. "Go ahead."

He nodded and began the entirety of the joke. "Right... so Farmer walks into a bar and in comes this three-legged pig right behind him." Clem raised an eyebrow at that, maybe this will be interesting. "So the Farmer pulls up a stool for him and the pig, and they both sit down. Now the bartender was all, 'Hey get the pig outta my bar.' Farmer goes 'This ain't an ordinary pig, this pig saved my life, and if you let him stay and give us both drinks, I'll tell you how'."

"You with me so far, hon?" Kenny paused to make sure she understood to which she simply nodded and told him to continue, now intently listening and too invested to just stop. "Alright so..."

"The Bartender gives the Pig and the Farmer drinks so then he begins to explain. He said that they had a fire at their farmhouse and the pig broke outta his sty and woke everybody up. Got them all outta there and then it went back and brought the dog out. The bartender didn't get it, he said. 'But why does the Pig only have three legs?' The Farmer said that another time he got stuck under his tractor, crying out for help. Pig heard him, broke outta his sty again, found him, lifted the tractor off of him, and it saved his life again. Finally the Bartender's getting mad so he asked just one more time. 'So, why does the Pig only have three legs?'"

So Kenny finished up the joke. "And the Farmer says to him, 'Well after all that Pig did for us, it didn't seem right to eat him all at once.' " He signaled when to laugh with his own snicker.

There was a moment where it had to register in the eleven year old. "Oh god..." Clementine rolled her eyes as she used the brim of her hat to hide the inevitable smile that crept up on her face. "That was bad." At least it was better than his nasty peaches and beans joke.

Kenny prided himself in his mock stand-up act. "Yeah I know, that joke was bone dry, and it makes me want to cook up some bacon."

"You read my mind." She sniffed her nose again while attempting to remember what bacon smelled like long ago. "I need to blow my nose."

"Here." Kenny weirdly enough pulled out a green handkerchief from his pocket. "Use this."

"Thanks." She gratefully accepted the cloth and proceeded to clear her little nose. _*PBBT!* _"Ew..."

_*boom...* ... *boom...*_

"What was that?" Kenny suddenly got up and made his way over towards the window. Dusk had now enveloped the land around them. Whatever that sound was it was farther off, maybe they were still safe. "That don't sound too good..."

Clementine finally cleaned up her face from all the mucus she shot out, and she deduced what that could have been with furrowed eyebrows. "Remember when we were back in Macon." She crossed her arms at the thoughts of the past. "You and Lee said the military were still fighting the walkers... this sounded like that."

"Yeah, you're right." He nodded in agreement. "Someone's got some serious firepower out there..." He thought again, that could be really good or really bad or both. "I'll keep watch for a bit darlin'. You get some rest, alright? You need it."

He was firm with his words, and she understood so no point in arguing. "Okay."

"We'll leave first thing in the morning."

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><p><strong>AN- A little something I cooked up. Had some random ideas here and there. Give me your thoughts, what do you think? Thanks. :)**


	2. The Fourth Day

_**NINE DAYS DURING**_

**A/N- Let's see where this goes. See if everyone wants to keep reading it.**

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><p><span>The Fourth Day...<span>

"Shh shh... it's all right buddy." That was the voice that Clementine woke up to from inside the trailer blind. She flickered open her eyelids from the bed to see Kenny caring for the crying AJ in his arms, no doubt feeding him the last of the baby formula they had. "Oh Jesus..." He heard him mutter when the bottle ran dry, fortunately enough for him, AJ was full and ready to sleep it off. "Hey Clem, you're awake."

"Hey." Clem causally waved to him as she hopped off the small mattress. It seemed like they made it through the night, however Clementine was concerned whether or not Kenny had gotten enough sleep. "Morning."

"Yeah... 'nother morning." He replied to which he stood up from the chair he was sitting in. "Come one, if you're up for it, we got no time to lose." She only noticed the yellow sunlight shine through the only window now. They had to make use of the less daylight they had with winter around. Up here, it would get dark by five in the afternoon, so the warmth of the sun was at their disadvantage.

"Yeah, let's go." Clem nodded as they made their way to the door. They had to keep moving, straight on north to Wellington.

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><p>"Whew..." The bearded man huffed, trying to catch his breath. "Feel my age uh..." He then looked at the little girl next to him and corrected himself. "Naw, hon... I'm fine."<p>

They had walked for what felt like all day, if only they had mile-markers to keep track of their distance. The three of them had trekked through the forest and came to its edge, now looking out at a valley below them. It was near afternoon, because the sun's path across the sky was shortened they could tell, and they didn't have much time now before sunset came. "Kenny." She pointed at the trough below. "Look."

Kenny followed her finger and saw that there was a farm with a house and an adjacent barn nearby. Maybe they could stop there for the night, maybe search the place for supplies? You never know. "Alright, here you take Alvie here." He handed her the baby while he pulled out his gun. "Stick close darlin', let's go."

So they headed down the hill, and both of them broke a sweat as they tried to not slip in the snow on the way down the hill, even with the white powder only being ankle high. Moments later, they were on the outer perimeter of the farm, and by the looks of it, it seemed abandoned. To the left side there was a barn that had aged brown paint that appeared two stories high and could probably store some cattle. A yellow silo stood beside it, maybe there was some stuff in there? They could check there... but the white farmhouse to the right side looked devoid of any human presence, but you can never be too careful.

**[Search Farmhouse]**

[Search Silo]

[Search Barn]

"It's check the house first, make sure there's nobody here." Clementine piped up her suggestion.

Kenny nodded. I agree, c'mon gotta move quick." Kenny motioned as he hopped over the fence and moved up towards the farmhouse with Clem and AJ close on his heels. Fast like rabbits, they quickly found themselves on the porch by the front door. With gun in hand, Kenny pulled open the screen door and proceeded to turn the doorknob.

It was unlocked.

"Alright..." He scanned the area as he opened the door. "Same as yesterday, cover me Clem."

"Okay." Clem nodded as she followed him inside the building.

The farmhouse was dim inside, and at first glance there wasn't any signs of survivors in here. Kenny closed the door behind them and locked the deadbolt on instinct. They had a staircase on their left which led to the upper floor, and a dining room on their right. Disturbingly, it both reminded them a little bit of the St. John's house from so long ago. Kenny sighed. "I'll search the place. You two sit down and catch your breathe, maybe see if anything works in here."

"I can take upstairs, and you can take downstairs." Clem proposed to him. "We can get down faster this way."

The bearded man paused for a second before agreeing. "Fine, but be careful sweetie, there could still be walkers in here."

Maybe...

Clementine nodded as she proceeded to do her task by heading up the stairs while Kenny went down the hall and started with the living room. The windows he noticed, but wasn't really surprised, were boarded up. So that meant that people used this place to hunker down for a while.

_*Flush*_

Wide-eyed, Kenny stared at a closed door adjacent to him, he took cover behind the corner in the hall and got himself ready. There was someone inside the bathroom, and he was positive it wasn't Clementine. It was someone else...

"Got you asshole!"

Kenny yelped as he felt the body of a full grown man tackle him from behind. Fucking goddamn, he must have been hiding somewhere! "Who the fuck you think you are?!" His breathe stank to high heaven and his voice was raspy as hell.

So in turn from tackling him from behind, Kenny couldn't see him as he was on top of him, but his gun was underneath him and still in his hand, he just had to-!

"UH-UH!" He heard his attacker spout as he grabbed his gun arm and forced the weapon out of his hand and knocked it aside. Kenny tried to roll over, but the man was to heavy to do so, since he had his full weight sitting on his back. "You ain't gonna take our shit, no fuckin' way!"

Kenny then felt the man's arm wrap around his throat in a chokehold. Tighter and tighter, he felt his muscle push against his neck, making it harder and harder from him to breathe. It was then that the first man that was in the bathroom came out adjusting his belt. "Who the fuck in this guy?!"

**(o) Shoot stranger.**

"Don't worry Jack, he's gonna be a dead man right about-! _*BANG!*_ Ack..." The man that was chocking Kenny had fallen dead on top of him from a gunshot down the hall, a smoking gun held by Clementine the culprit. AJ began crying from the sudden noise, and the man known as Jack pulled a gun of his own, while quickly taking cover back inside the bathroom.

"Fuck.. fucking fuck! Don't make me do this! I never liked that guy, glad he's dead!" Jack called over to the little girl. "I ain't no baby killer either, I swear on my life!"

A coughing Kenny pushed the limp body off of him and caught his breathe again. The one-eyed man looked back at Clementine with a nod of gratitude and ordered her to find some cover. Hearing the coughing, Jack must have realized he was outnumbered two guns to one. So he bellowed from his cover. "Look see?" Kenny saw a gun being tossed out into the hall. "We can talk this out like civilized-!"

"Civilized my ass!" Kenny roared as he charged at Jack as soon as he came out of cover. "Your friend tried to fucking kill me!" He got him on the ground, and Kenny's position was reversed on top of Jack now. "You fuckin-*_punch*_-piece of- _*punch_*-shit!"

"Kenny stop it!" Clem ran up to him with a crying AJ in her arms. "He surrendered! You don't have to kill him!"

**(?) Kenny will remember that.**

After one more fist in the man's face to satisfy himself, Kenny had stopped and listened to Clementine. Breathing heavily still after the sudden sequence of events, the bearded man got up and looked at his work. The man known as Jack was still conscious, albeit he was now sporting a black eye and busted lip. He backed away from Kenny until his back hit the wall, and he had no where else to go. He held his hands up in defense. "Who are you guys? Scavengers? Bandits?"

Jack had black hair and dark eyes along with a 5 'o clock shadow, sporting what looked like a red jacket and black pants. Clem was the one who answered him. "We were just passing through, we were just looking for supplies."

"Yeah?" Jack quirked an eyebrow as he eyed the baby in her arms. "You picked a bad place to pass through then." He paused to look at Alvin Junior. "Bet you need a lot of stuff to take care of him, right?"

Kenny was about to say some sort of threat or snarl at the man, however Clem tugged on his green jacket. This calmed him down and he nodded. Clem responded. "Does this place have anything for a baby? Like formula, clothes, blankets? Anything like that..." She paused and remembered what his companion called him. "...Jack?"

The raven-haired man looked nervously at Kenny then back at Clementine. "I know the folks who were here before us had a baby, maybe..."

"Where is it then?" Kenny immediately barked at him, initially skeptical at first but any hope in finding food for AJ was the best they were going to get. "If you're lying just to save your skin-!"

"I'm not! I swear to Christ I'm not! I know there used to be a family and their baby living here because well... uh." His eyes then looked downcast, appearing ashamed at what he was about to say next. "...my group chased them outta here."

Kenny snarled. "You son of a bitch!" He advanced towards him a couple of steps. "How could you throw a family out in that cold like that?! They had a fucking kid!"

Clem tried to interrupt him. "Kenny-!"

"No, Clem! We don't need this shitbird to search the place, let's just-!"

But Jack stopped in his tracks. "The family mentioned Wellington okay? Wellington! That's where they said they were going! Please!" He cowered in his corner, not attempting a fight. "They made a copy of a map on that table over there, I thought it was bullshit! But they looked like they knew where they were going! Just don't kill me! Please!"

Kenny stomped his way towards Jack and picked him up by his collar, staring him right in the face. "Wellington? You said Wellington right? Answer me dammit!"

"Yeah, yeah..." Jack bobbed his head. "I'm sure of it, go on, there's a map right over there. Get your girl to check it over."

"Clem?"

The little girl nodded and headed towards the table in the living room. She made sure she placed AJ comfortably on the couch before picking up a crudely folded up piece of paper. Clem unfolded it to reveal a map of the eastern half of the United States with a highlighted line of the town she believed they were in, all the way up to a circle with an 'x' near a state called Michigan.

This was real... this was a real map to Wellington, at least she believed it.

"Kenny!" She beamed at him. "He's telling the truth!"

He gasped in response. "You sure?" He got the nod of approval and turned his attention back to the man in his grasp. "Show me where that formula is then, _Jack." _He let him go, he nearly fell to the floor but caught himself. "...Go on Jackie boy, since you're such a nice guy now."

"Kenny..." Clem furrowed her eyebrows at him. "Be nice."

"I am, goddamnit." He replied firmly to her.

Jack let out a sigh of relief, letting his guard down. "Right this way." He led Kenny back towards the kitchen, leaving Clementine to observe the map in her hands. And the only thing the little girl could deduce was that Wellington was far, really far still. Kenny could do the better math however and know how much farther exactly they had to walk, but at least AJ won't go hungry tonight.

Suddenly, a loud creaking sound of machinery could be heard at a distance from outside. Worried, Clementine went to the window and peered through the crack of the wood. It got louder and louder as it came into view and she saw at least half a dozen men out in the yard opening the large barn doors nearby.

And her breathe hitched when she saw the menacing metal monster they mentioned yesterday, this was real too.

The tank then came into her plain view and reversed back and park itself inside the barn...

"Oh no..."

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><p><strong>AN- Review if you guys like this. Tell me whether or not, you want all the rest of the 9-day trek up to Wellington or not. Thanks a lot! :)**


	3. The Fourth Night

_**NINE DAYS DURING**_

**A/N- Thanks for all the support guys! :) Let's make it to Wellington all together then.**

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><p><span>The Fourth Night<span>

"Oh no..." Clem's heart filled with dread as she witnessed the group of men lock up the tank in the barn. And now about six or seven men were heading towards the farmhouse they were in, probably to turn in for the day. ...But we were intruders, and they wouldn't take it too kindly with one of their men with a bullet in their head, in a pool of blood in the hall.

They had to act fast.

**(!) Find Kenny!**

Clementine quickly went to the couch and picked up Alvin Junior in her arms. Almost in a panic, she bolted out of the living room and rushed over to kitchen where she could hear Jack and the bearded man talking.

"-this is all there is? You sure?" Kenny barked at his captive. "Because we need all of the formula, you sure as hell ain't gonna use it, right?"

Jack shook his head feverishly. "No, no. That's all there is. All that I know about, please, that'll get your kid through the month. It's a jumbo pack, see?"

Clementine rounded the corner and into the kitchen so that she was within their view. She addressed towards the two with clear anxiety and fear in her voice. "We have to leave! There's people about to come in here!"

"What?!" Kenny's single eyebrow arched at that information, immediately believing the little girl's words. The wounded warrior's mind raced around with a thousand thoughts a second as he tried to think of an escape plan. He turned towards Jack. "Take us to the backdoor, now!"

However Jack whimpered as he put his hands up in defense and refused to meet his angry glare. "W-we bl-blocked it off, okay? We don't got one!"

"Sonavabitch!" Kenny looked around until he spotted a door in the hallway next to the bathroom door. Clem saw it too, maybe a closet they could hide in?

"Jack..." She piped up to the man. "Where does that door go?" She pointed at it.

Oddly enough, Jack's eyes seemed to lighten up with that of hope. He answered. "It leads to the cellar, you can get out that way for sure." He then made his way over towards the door. "Please, hurry before they can get you!"

Kenny and Clem then heard the jinglingly of the doorknob from the front door. Lucky for them that they locked the deadbolt when they came in earlier. They had perhaps just precious seconds to work with, so the bearded man and the little girl with the baby in her arms decided that the cellar was their best shot.

"You first, shitbird." He opened the door for Jack to go down in. When Kenny opened the door, there was nothing but darkness down those stairs. Fortunately for them, the one-eyed man still had a flashlight ready to guide them in this basement of terror. "Lead the way."

"Hurry guys!" Clem loudly whispered as they all began to traverse down the creaky stairway. Jack first, then Kenny, and Clementine at the back. When her feet set foot on the solid cement ground, she could hear the echo of men upstairs.

_"What the fuck!?"_

_"What happened?!"_

They must have found their friend that she had to kill to save Kenny... but still she did her best to search the basement through the darkness, and a sliver of natural light was apparent on the far side from them.

**(o) Look at Cellar Doors.**

Kenny cursed himself as he turned on his flashlight and scanned the area. "Alright, quick let's-OOFF!"

Clementine's eyes widened as she witnessed Jack elbow Kenny in the face while his flashlight was off of him, giving the surprise advantage of the dark on his side for his attack. It was then that Clem saw only momentarily that their escape which would've been the cellar doors were locked up tight with steel chains wrapped around both handles.

They were trapped...

Clem had to pull out her gun as Jack charged at the currently disorientated Kenny, pinning him to one of the adjacent walls of the cellar next to a wooden shelf. "Both of you, don't do anything stupid or you _will_ die this time!"

Light suddenly flooded the cellar as the entrance flung open and strangers' voices began to clamor and shout orders to surrender. By the time Kenny was back at 100% fighting mode, he noticed that there was another man with a rifle pointed at him standing on the staircase. Clem remembered her count of six men they would have to shoot through if they continued to keep resisting. So reluctantly, Clem dropped her gun and put her now free hand up. "Don't shoot!"

"Clem!" Kenny fought against Jack's grip which was now futile since another man ran past the one with the rifle, and he clocked him hard across the jaw, sending him to the ground. He grunted in pain as he heard AJ begin to cry. "...You bastards," He groaned from the blow, hearing a crack in his mouth._ "..._you bastards better not hurt them..."

"Kenny!" Clem exclaimed as she tried to run towards him, but Jack stopped her. "Let me go!"

"Kid," He grabbed her jacket which made her shoulder hurt horribly, and she winced in pain. "don't make this any harder than it has to be."

And the man that had punched Kenny barked. "Tie'em up!"

* * *

><p>...<p>

Another hour or two must have passed, because the sun was about to go down. Clementine and Kenny were now indeed tied up and placed on their knees back in the living room on the floor. AJ was harmlessly placed on the couch, thank god these people weren't the worst people they had encountered so far. But there was no doubt about it now, these were the people who had the tank in their possession. And from what they could hear, the leader of the group and his most trusted people, which included Jack, were talking about what to do with them in the kitchen.

A couple of other men were ordered to keep watch outside, so that meant that the remaining guy was watching their new captives. The man eyed Kenny while he played with a toothpick in his mouth and adjusted his green military cap on his head. His eyes were green and his hair was brown, Clementine thinks she heard his boss call him Dallas, at least she believed so.

Dallas spoke to Kenny, his southern accent apparent. "You the one that killed Vic?"

With a response ready to be shot back, Kenny gritted his teeth and seethed at him. "He was tryin' to kill me first." Guess he was attempting to cover for Clem's actions.

So in turn Dallas returned that hostility. "Gee, I wonder why, Einstein?" Sarcasm dripping heavy in his tone. "You two should be thankful we ain't one of those 'life for a life' kinds of groups. But ya never know, he might change the rules." He shrugged to himself then leered over at Clementine. "How old are ya, hon?"

[I'm Eleven]

**[Don't Answer]**

Clem didn't want to answer this man's question, she felt uncomfortable as it was already. She instead avoided his gaze and decided to admire the dusty floorboards. Dallas grimaced but then shook his head, abandoning his question.

Alvin Junior then began to whimper and cry softly from the couch he was laying on. Kenny turned his head over towards him and tried to calm him down from his position. "It's alright buddy, don't worry." He then leered at Dallas menacingly. "We're getting outta here real soon..."

"Don't count on it." The country boy spat back.

Soon the sounds of multiple footsteps emerged from the kitchen, and the four men revealed themselves to them. Clem could tell that the leader was the one with Kevlar on his body, he was the only one who had it. With what looked like winter soldier camo, his shaved head was cleanly cut and the only hair he had on his face was a black goatee with silver edges. His dark eyes scanned Clem, Kenny, and then AJ. "Dallas, status?" His voice was deep and firm.

The brunette looked back at his commander. "Sir, the old man has a mighty temper, but the kids he has are in good health, all things considerin'."

"Acknowledged." He nodded towards him and pulled something from out of his pocket. He unfolded it and revealed it to be the map of Wellington they picked up earlier. They had taken all of their stuff when they got captured so it wasn't that much of a surprise. The leader then addressed the bound Clementine and Kenny. "My name is Captain Cahill, self-appointed." He then sighed through his nose as he examined the map in detail. "I know why this has all come to pass, but I believe we can find a solution to our problem."

"What the hell are you talkin' about?!" Kenny snarled at him, ready to strike if it had been in favor, it obviously wasn't. "They're just kids, just let'em go! I killed your man!"

"Kenny I-!" But Clem was cut off with the bearded man's rant.

"We didn't think anyone was home here, and your guy came up from behind me and he got shot for it. Okay? So it's my fault, alright? Just please, just..." Kenny lied vainly as Jack stepped forward.

"It was the little girl that killed Vic." Jack's voice was flat. "Not this asshole." Kenny scowled at him in response.

Cahill quirked an eyebrow at the little girl in question. "Hmm. Well... can't say that I'm too surprised. But that fails to answer this..." He then looked at his men. "What if it wasn't Victor that we lost today? What if it was you? ...Or you? ...Or you? Or I?" He turned back to the two of then as his men agreed with him. "It's so hard to trust strangers nowadays, so much so that it has left a stigma on outside interaction, everyone fears everyone... but you know what?" He paused for dramatic effect. "People fear you more if you have a tank. I'm sure you've seen it in action somewhere around here."

"Goddammit, there are two of us and seven of ya'll. You don't got nothing to worry about if you just let us go!" Kenny began to plead, for the kids' safety. "Please."

Cahill shook his head at him. "Negative, consequences must incur. However, I don't believe killing children would be a fair course of action to honor Victor's memory." The commander then held out his hand to Dallas and motioned him to give him his toothpick.

"Here sir." He simply said as he dropped the little sharpened wooden pick into his boss's hand to which Cahill used to quickly poke a hole in the Wellington map.

"My best judgment, and the most fair thing I can do for my men and my fallen friend, is to leave you in the hands of fate." Cahill then tossed the map towards Kenny, and the paper floated until it landed near his knees. The mark made by the toothpick on the map made small hole on the main road where a bridge went over a the Ohio River. The river had to be more that a three days walk.

"What's the hell's this supposed to fuckin' mean?!" The bearded man snarled as he frustratingly tried to squirm out of his binding but to no avail.

The Commander ignored him and instead turned his attention to a scared and worried Clementine. He furrowed his eyebrows at her as he threateningly put his hand near his holster. "Think about this little girl, for both your sake..." Clem's breathe hitched as Cahill declared to her.

"Choose a number, from 1 to 5... now." His voice boomed at her. "Think and pick wisely."

The little girl looked over at Kenny for support, but the one-eyed man was a loss for words as he merely shrugged his shoulders while still trying to look tough. "Motherfucker, what the hell you tryin' to pull?! Don't play games with her!"

By the look on all the men's faces, they seemed to be waiting for her to make a choice from this small list of number. So Clem picked on.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

or

[5]

It's your decision...

* * *

><p><strong>AN- As to what to pick for the number, I'll give you a hint. 'The Most Dangerous Game'**

**So, vote and pick a number and we'll see what happens next on the fifth day. Stay turned :)**


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